Introducing 2022 Ladies Softball
Photo by Centenary Softball
The 2022 softball season starts February 5th versus Millsaps and ends April 24th versus St. Thomas. The team is led by their head coach, Whitney Patterson, and their new assistant coach, Alicia Owens. Seven freshmen, three sophomores, two juniors, and three seniors fill the roster for this upcoming season: Alyssa Akers, Kaitlyn Dickey, Maggie Jenkins, Katelyn Moss, Viviana Rivero, Brooke Sandefur, Anna Scarbrock, Mackenzie Clark, Mackenzie Cox, Isabelle Dominguez, Kaylea Patridge, Mallory Stout, Ashley Hunter, Erin Lewis, and Jaymee Wilkinson.
Coach Patterson was announced as head coach by David Orr in July of 2021; before, she was the assistant coach for seven seasons. She is a 2014 Centenary alumna with her degree in psychology, and she played on the softball team herself as an infielder. Her previous coaching experience included outfielders with slap hitters and off-season weight and conditioning programming. She is still ranking in the top ten, according to the Division III record book, for at-bats, sacrifice hits, and sacrifice flies. Coach Patterson is also in the career top ten for her career doubles and sacrifice hits and flies. As an assistant coach, she aided the team to the No. 5 seed in the conference championship.
This will be Assistant Coach Alicia Owens’s first season with Centenary’s softball program. She played for Alvin Community College in Alvin, Texas, then transferred to LSUA, continuing to play softball for the Generals before graduating. Owens was first-team all-conference selection while attending Alvin. Senior year, she was a second-team all-conference selection as a catcher. She then graduated from LSUA with her bachelor’s in kinesiology and a minor in psychology.
Photo by Centenary College Softball
Now, let’s meet the team–starting with this year’s freshmen. Akers is from Maurice, Louisiana, and attended high school at North Vermillion High School. She has previously been named second-team all-metro, first-team all-parish, as well as first-team all-district. Dickey is from Church Point, Louisiana, and attended Beau Chene High School. During her time there, she was a three-time first-team all-district and all-parish selection. Dickey was also a two-time first-team all-state and second-team all-metro selection. She has been named a NFCA All-American Scholar three times, and she led her team to state runner-up her senior year of high school. Jenkins is a transfer from South California, wherein high school, she came in second for the division two championship. Moss is here from Olive Branch, Mississippi, and attended Center Hill High School. There, Moss was named the most valuable player on her team. Rivero attended Redondo Union High School in her hometown of Redondo Beach, California, where she was named a scholar-athlete all four years. She was named to the All-Bay league first team her senior year and also received the most outstanding player award serving as her team’s captain that season. Sandefur is from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and attended high school at Episcopal. She was named a first-team all-district selection and earned an all-district honorable mention. Scarbrock is here from Alexandria Senior High School located in Alexandria, Louisiana. Her senior year on softball, she made the all-district team as a first-team utility selection.
Sophomore Clark is from Upland, California, and had a successful 2021 freshman season. As a rookie, she played in thirty-two games and was ranked second on the team in walks. Cox, in her freshman year, was named first-team all-SCAC and ranked within the top ten of the conference. She has set a team high with forty-four hits (tied in sixth overall in SCAC) and twenty-four runs and was named to the student-athlete academic honor roll. As a rookie, Dominguez played in thirty-six games consisting of a home run, a double, and nine RBIs. She is tied for third in the SCAC with six sacrifice bunts.
Patridge is a junior this year, and last year she played in all thirty-eight games of that season. She is ranked second on the team with thirty-four hits and had three doubles, two triples, and a home run. Due to stealing twenty bases, she ranks fourth in conference; Patridge ended last year’s season, tying for first in SCAC sacrifice bunts and also being named to the SCAC student-athlete academic honor roll. Stout had a busy sophomore season last year making two doubles, scoring nine runs, and stealing four bases. She was named to the SCAC all-sportsmanship team and the SCAC student-athlete academic honor roll. Hunter is one of the Ladies’ top pitchers and is ranked second on the team in wins and complete games. In SCAC, she’s ranked ninth in earned run average, and named SCAC’s pitcher of the week last March. Lewis had seven RBI, scored three runs, two doubles, and a home run–earning herself a spot on the all-tournament team. SCAC recognized her as their hitter of the week in late March in 2021, and during the Dallas conference, she scored two runs, two doubles, stole a base, and a home run. Wilkinson led the team with nine doubles which tied her for fifth-best in the SCAC. She also earned a spot on the all-tournament team because of her four runs scored, a double, and a pair of stolen bases.
Be sure to come out and support the Ladies during this year’s season. They have home games on March 1st, March 3rd, March 5th, March 6th, March 19th, March 26th, March 27th, April 15th, and April 16th.